Former NDP MP, social justice advocate Dan Heap dies at 88

Dan Heap, a former NDP MP and long-time social justice advocate, has died.

He was 88.

Heap, who had suffered from Alzheimer’s in recent years, died Friday at a Toronto nursing home.

His death was announced on Facebook by his son, David, who described his father as a “pacifist, socialist, worker-priest, Marxist Anglican, trade-unionist, city councillor, member of parliament, civilly disobedient marcher for human rights.”

Heap was a Toronto MP for 12 years before stepping down from federal politics in 1993.

Former NDP MP Olivia Chow, who once worked for Heap and calls him a mentor, says Heap was “never a person about himself.”

“He was never seeking power or glory. He was always standing up for his principles of justice and peace,” she said in an interview on Saturday.

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